The Dragon
by Annu B
Summary: Annu Danza is a new demigod that is discovered by Nico and comes to camp a few years after the war. She makes great friends, and has more fun than she's ever had. But of course, something happens to shatter her peace. Nico/OC, Percabeth, New characters!
1. Is this a dream?

**A/N: Of course, none of this stuff belongs to me, it's all Rick Riordan's, although I can wish. I hope you enjoy the story that I have written only in school (but not when I was supposed to be working). Read and Review! I hope to get a couple reviews even though I am totally new!**

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Is this a dream?

I eyed the dimly lit alley that I had walked down, there was nothing around. The brick walls of the buildings surrounding me were crumbling, so I scaled up onto the rooftop. San Diego gave off a glow under the summer moon. I am Annu Danza, sixteen years old. I have brown-black, just past the shoulder hair, large, almond-shaped hazel eyes, and light copper-colored skin. At this particular moment, I was wearing a black jacket, blue skinny jeans, a black T-shirt, and black boots. I scanned the roofs for any signs of pursuers, of any type, but there was nothing in sight. I relaxed a fraction, and headed off west, where the sun had set so many hours ago. I checked my watch, 3 o'clock. In the night. I know what you're thinking, What is a sixteen year old girl doing walking around the rooftops of San Diego at three a.m? But questions like that usually apply to _normal _people, and I am by no stretch of the imagination normal.

It was about fifteen minutes before I heard anything. Footsteps echoed around me. I checked that my daggers were secured firmly in their wrist sheaths, ankle sheaths, belt sheaths, etc., hoisted up my backpack, and broke into a run. However, the footsteps just sped up.

I had almost reached the edge of the roof, but the next one was roughly ten feet down. I smirked, measured my force, and jumped. I heard a voice swear behind me, and almost laughed. After living in San Diego for fourteen years with an overprotective mother (who's rich and loves spoiling you, but anyways), you learn some things. As soon as I hit the next roof, I bent my legs, and rolled. I flipped all the way onto my feet, and when I was right-side up, unsheathed my daggers and whirled to face the person tailing me. But no one was there.

_They must have given up after I jumped_, I thought. I turned around.

"Holy crap!" I yelled. My crazy chaser stood there, he was a boy of around my age, maybe four inches taller. He had jet-black hair, olive-toned skin, and deep black eyes. His eyes looked so emotional - and soulful. And man, he was hot!

As if he knew what I was thinking, he smirked, and said, "If you're done staring at me..." I blushed. His voice was an amazing tenor. _Wait, focus!_

"Sorry," I said sarcastically. Thankfully though, he didn't seem to have noticed the blush. He kept talking.

"Hi, I'm Nico diAngelo," he announced. Introductions, great. He regarded me expectantly.

"I'm Annu Danza," I said. "Nice to meet you and everything, but why were you chasing me across the rooftops?"

"Why were you running?" He, Nico, countered smugly. But I was just getting kind of pissed off.

"Hmmm...Let's think. It's the middle of the night in San Diego, I'm a teenage girl, and you were trying to sneak up on me!" I glared at him.

"Okay, well, true. But..." Nico trailed off. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry for scaring you, but you'd think after all the things you've gone through, you'd get used to it. Besides I just wanted to talk."

"Well talk," I said impatiently. "Or get lost, because I've got better things to do than worry about having a psycho stalker." I looked at him pointedly. He opened his mouth like he was going to retaliate, but closed it again. I raised one eyebrow, but he stared at the ground. When he finally looked back up, I was considering leaving, but what with the complete lack of expression on his face, I decided to stay.

"I bet you move around a lot, and get bad grades because you were diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. And your teacher and people around you tend to turn into monsters." I was startled. He just waited for an answer.

"Ummm...no, and no, although I _was_ diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, and yes to the last one." Nico looked slightly shocked.

"Wait, you haven't moved around a lot?" I wondered why he cared, but replied.

"Nope, I've lived in my house ever since my mom came from _Italia _fifteen years ago."

"Weird," he murmured under his breath. Then louder, "Whatever. Annu, you're a demigod."

"What, like half-god and half-human?" He nodded.

"Yup,"

"Well, that explains a _lot_, but not why _you're_ here." I chose to ignore the fact that what he was saying was slightly, well, crazy.

"I came to take you to camp. It's the only safe place for people like us."

"People like us? Are you a demigod too?"

"Yes." His tone implied no room for discussion of this topic, so I bit my tongue on 'Who's your godly parent?' Instead I asked a question that was actually important.

"Cool, so where is 'camp?'"

"Long Island,"

"New York? Holy crap! How do we get to New York? Can you fly or something?" This was starting to sound bad.

"We shadow travel," Nico said shortly. My face must have shown my confusion, for he sighed, and explained. "I can travel through shadows; it's kind of like transportation."

"Okay, will it hurt?" I wanted to be prepared for whatever came.

"No. Are we going or not?" Nico asked. I told him we were. "Good, grab my hand." He held out his hand, I looked at it uncertainly.

"You can trust me," he assured me. And looking at him, I believed him, even though what he said sounded like a cheesy line from a movie. I took his hand.

"Let's go," I said and we rushed into the darkness.

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**A/N: Yay! Chapter one done!**


	2. If it is

**A/N: OhMyGod! I am _soooooo_ sorry that it took so long to update this chapter! But it's holiday season and I was really busy. Thank you extremely much to those of you who reviewed, put me on one of their favorites lists, of added me to Story Alert. Since this is my first fanfic, it feels really good to know that people like my story  
To Nico's Future Wife: Thanks for your constructive criticism, it helped me a lot when I was developing this chapter.  
To anyone who cares, the chapter titles are the lyrics to a song. WHICH ONE? And which language(s) does the word "danza" come from?**

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If it is

After the shadow travel was over, I looked around, I was feeling kind of dizzy, and Nico was…OhMyGod! He fainted! I dragged Nico over to the tree at the top of the hill, even though it had a dragon by it. The dragon opened up one sleepy eye and looked at me, I looked back. It nodded its head at me and lay back down. _Hmmm… weird_. I propped Nico up against the tree, and leaned on it.

I took this moment of silence to think. On one hand, the Greek Gods being real was so totally unlikely, it was funny. Although, my mother had mentioned something about the importance of mythology before I started high school, and when we learned about Greek mythology, she knew a lot. The gods existing explained the monsters, and all the references to Greek mythology I had seen, and met. Not to mention, Nico's sincerity when he explained it to me was indisputable. And then there was the shadow travel. _I guess for now I have no choice but to go along with him, because it's not like I can go home now that I ran away. I'll just have to see what happens, and go along with it. After all, I have my daggers, and Nico seems okay. _I sighed. I decided that I had to at least _try_ to wake up Nico. I shook him gently.

"Nico, wake up," I said, "come on, you need to wake up and tell me where the heck we are!" I was getting a little worried. I put my hand on his face. "Nico, wake up!" I waited for about half a minute and I finally saw his eyes flutter.

"Unhh…are we at camp?" Nico asked. I sighed with relief.

"That depends on where camp is, but I think so. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired."

"A little? You fainted!" Ok, so I was still worried.

"Yeah. Anyways, do you think you could help me walk?"

"Sure, but walk where?"

"Just up the…wait, how did we get up the hill?"

"Oh, I dragged you up so we could lean on the tree."

"That explains the lack of monsters. Well, good. Now we know you can come into camp, and it's all downhill. Will you help me up?" I nodded and bent over. I grabbed his hand and hauled him up. I put his one arm around my shoulders and tried not to notice that one of the most attractive boys I had ever met smelled _really_ good.

"Ok, so again, walk where?" Nico looked at me and gestured with the arm that wasn't around my shoulders. My jaw dropped.

"Wow, how did I miss that?" In front of me was a big valley with a lake, cabins, an arena, a big house, and a building that looked like it was from ancient Greece. "So where do we go?"

"Well, I'm supposed to take you to the Big House." I laughed.

"Nico, no offense, but I don't think you'll be taking anyone anywhere anytime soon. But sure, we'll go to the Big House." The Big House was white, and probably the biggest house I have ever seen. Shocker. It looked like it was made of marble. We walked over to the doors. "Ummm…Nico? I have to let go of you to push the doors open, will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I pushed the doors wide open, and was greeted by the strangest sight. A centaur, with curlers in his tail, a normal-looking guy (actually, he was kind of hot), and a man who looked totally boozed were playing cards. I just stood there and gaped. I heard Nico walk in behind me, and was grateful. The normal-looking guy seemed a bit worried when he saw Nico.

"Chiron," Nico said quietly. "I found her."

"Very good, Nico. You look tired, however. Go to the infirmary, and rest. I assume you shadow traveled?" Nico nodded. "Yes, well, go lie down, and we'll tell Miss…"

"Annu, Annu Danza." I introduced myself.

"Yes, Miss Danza, the basics, and once you are fully recovered from your cross country journey; she will be your responsibility."

"Yes, Chiron." Nico said, and walked through an adjacent door.

"Now, Miss Danza, normally you would watch the orientation film, but you seem old. Pardon me, but how old _are_ you?"

"Oh," I was startled at being addressed so directly. "I'm sixteen."

"Hmmm…" Chiron seemed to contemplate me with a piercing gaze. He looked over at the drunken man, but he was absorbed in his cards. "Well then. Have you heard of the Pantheon, Miss Danza?" I nodded, at a loss for words. "They are quite real, and your being here means that you are a child of one of the gods." I had kind of accepted that when I saw him, I mean, a _CENTAUR!_ I knew that it made some sort of twisted sense. My mom always seemed to be referencing the myths, it was weird. Don't get me wrong, I loved my mom, and I still do, but she didn't really relate to me. We got along great, we found common ground in combat (she was a weapons and hand to hand combat specialist, she taught me everything I know) and yes, I know every other teenager says this, but she didn't understand me. I had run away because I wanted to _do_ something, I was tired of being pampered, and having everything handed to me on a silver platter (I'm not being metaphoric, sadly). I wanted a life. The great thing was, we lived in San Diego, and it's _so_ easy to sneak out. I went illegally to Disneyland and SeaWorld several times, even before then. San Diego was _my _city, and I loved it. I missed it. But there was a time to ponder, and it was not now.

"So which god or goddess is my parent?" I was getting rather curious. My mom had never really mentioned my dad. She had only told me that they met when she was twenty-one, and that he 'shone more brilliant than the brightest star.' I wondered what I would learn about my mom and my dad.

"I am sorry Miss Danza, but we will only know who your godly parent is when they decide to claim you, which should be soon, even though you are over thirteen. There are a couple other older unclaimed ones, but as we have told them, the wait won't be too long. We can narrow it down a bit though, did you live with your mother or your father."

"I lived with my mother."

"Then it is safe to assume that your godly parent was a god, and not a goddess. But until your father claims you, you will be staying in the Hermes cabin." He turned and addressed the boy, who had dark black hair, and sea-green eyes. "Percy, it's your turn." He looked back at me. "You are free to go, Miss Danza, the Hermes cabin is the one with the caduceus on it. Anything to add Mr. D?" The drunken man fixed his purple eyes on me.

"Yes, Annu Danza, be careful of your choices, you never know where they will lead you." He returned his gaze to his cards. I stood there, shocked. _That was so comforting and not at all cryptic,_ I thought, my inner voice set on sarcastic. It comforted me to see that Chiron looked just as shocked. But he shook it off and dismissed me, with a friendly farewell. I walked outside into the summer sun, and noticed for the first time the abundance of campers. I stopped one, a boy wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt who looked around my age, maybe a few years older, and asked him where the Hermes cabin was. He peered closely at me.

"I've never seen you before, are you new?" He asked.

"Yeah, my name's Annu."

"I'm Connor. Welcome to Camp Half-blood, Annu. I'm actually one of the counselors of the Hermes cabin, come on. I'll take you there." He slung his arm over my shoulders and led me to the circle of cabins, they were all fairly big, and each decorated differently. One was completely covered in red, pink, and purple hearts, another with seashells. One looked like it was made of gold, and another, of black metal. There was one that was blood red and gave me shivers, while another one, silver, with rainbows reflecting off it, made me feel at peace. My favorite was the one with the sunburst on the door.

As we walked several people greeted Connor, and many of the male population stared at me, and glared at Connor. My inner voice laughed, I was totally amused and _be_mused. _Wow, they're quick to call dibs here, aren't they? They probably don't know I already met Nico._ A lot of guys in San Diego, at the private school I went to liked me, but I always just thought it was my money. No one here knew about that, so I figured that they thought I was pretty. I almost laughed, because _I _liked my look, I just didn't know that it appealed to anyone else.

Connor led me over to one with a caduceus on it, as Chiron had promised, that looked like the most normal one. We walked in, and it was full of campers, around twenty. Connor motioned to them and most of them walked out the door. He stayed behind for a moment and looked at me.

"Annu, you can sleep on any empty bed on the girls' side. I'll let you get settled in. In half an hour there is sword practice, you can come, but you are actually excused from activities for today." I nodded and he walked out. I walked over to an empty bed next to one of the campers that had stayed behind, and sighed. I set down my backpack, and flopped down. The girl next to me looked over at me.

"Hi, I'm Mareian, but call me Mare. I see Connor didn't introduce you, that boy is so lazy! _And_ he has a twin, Travis. They are _so_ thoughtless." I laughed.

"So there's two of them?"Mae had curly blonde hair, and greenish-grey eyes. She looked to be about my age.

"Unfortunately," I laughed again.

"Hey, I'm Annu. So, Connor and his brother are both sons of Hermes. What about you?"

"No, I'm unclaimed, and my godly parent is my mother. I've been here a few days. People stay in here until they're claimed because Hermes is god of travelers, among other things."

"Oh, I just came from talking with Chiron. He says that my father will claim me within a month or so."

"Yeah, probably. Did you see Mr. D? The guy who looks like he's totally boozed?" We giggled.

"Yeah, I did. Who _is_ he?"

"He's Dionysus, god of wines and stuff. He's here because he got punished for chasing after some pretty nymph." We giggled again, and I knew I had found a friend.

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**A/N: What do you guys think? I know this timeline may not be technically accurate, but I thought that for some later on events, they would have to be at least sixteen. Also, hows my character interpretation of Chiron?  
Please Review! I think I'll need at least 7 reviews before I post the next chapter.  
Love ya!**


	3. Please don't wake me

**A/N:** **So, I am a horrible person, I admit it. I am so bad at updating that I should probably be kicked off the site. But I'm just so bloody busy! Argh, blame my teachers, who don't seem to realize that seven hours of school, an hour of homework for each class (seven hours), an hour to eat, an hour to get ready and get myself to school in the morning, and extra time for the projects they keep assigning adds up and leaves me with seven hours or less of sleep. I mean, really!  
But enough ranting. You probably want to read the story now, so I'll let you do that. Any ideas about this song?**

**Also, I think it's pretty clear I'm not Rick Riordan, or I'd be writing this in a book and making money off it instead of posting it here.**

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Please Don't Wake Me

The next week passed, and they were filled with the best time I had ever had. I had never felt so…_normal_. There were lots of activities. Usually we did five or so activities a day. I found out after the first practice that I sucked at swordsmanship, but I showed Percy, the boy who I met at the Big House, my daggers and he sent me over to this girl named Annabeth to train with those. I heard people refer to Percy and Annabeth as heroes, and I wondered what that meant. There was also Tracking, Canoeing, Swimming, History (I know!), and Arts and Crafts, (where the Apollo, Athena, Hephaestus, and Muses cabins spent most of their time) and others. I hadn't been to Arts and Crafts yet, but I was looking forward to it, it seemed like fun. The other activities I had tried were Archery, Shield-wielding, Obstacle course, and Practical (where you battled a life sized robot of a monster). I was great at Archery and Obstacle course, okay at practical, but kind of bad at Shield-wielding; I'm just too delicate, not enough muscle in the right places. But I really enjoyed them all nonetheless.

A lot of the people I met were really nice, though I didn't make any more close friends after Mare. I just didn't feel connected to anyone; there was nothing that I thought I really shared with anybody. Not as friends, anyways. A lot of the boys at camp looked like they might be nice, and maybe boyfriend material, but I hardly knew anyone. I wasn't ready to have a boyfriend at camp, but I flirted as I always had. My friends back in San Diego always said that I was fun, flirtatious, and freaking awesome. I had to agree. I was known back home for being a girl who always had a boy option. I made several enemies that way. It didn't help that I was a confident, outgoing person. Girls who weren't usually found some reason to hate me. The cycle hadn't seemed to start at camp yet, but I knew it would. There will always be those that dislike you for being you.

On the other hand, Mare and I became really close in just a week. We told each other about our lives before camp, and I for one didn't keep any secrets. Mare knew everything about me, from my mom to my friends. In turn, she told me about her family and her little brother, who had been a demigod, but was killed when a monster attacked their home. She said she still felt bad about letting him die, but not in so many words. I felt so sorry for her, even though I couldn't truthfully say I knew how she felt, I was an only child. Mare and I were most definitely best friends by the time the week was over. And, I had earned my new nickname.

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I was in dagger training when Annabeth announced something new to me.

"We are going to be training sword against dagger today to give both classes more experience," she told us. I looked around at the swords class, startled. It seemed Percy was still talking to them. I turned my attention back to Annabeth in time to catch her last words. "I will be pairing you with people from the swords class according to your skill." She looked over at Percy, who returned her gaze and nodded. Annabeth led us over to the swords class, and joined Percy at the front. I was looking forward to this; it would be an interesting challenge. I fixed my clothes, black gym shorts and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, and pulled my daggers from the ankle sheaths. Those were definitely the ones I used most. I didn't want everyone to know that I had at least six daggers on me at all times.

"Okay guys," Percy said, "Annabeth and I are going to split you into pairs." And they sorted us into sword-dagger couples. At the end, I was left with no partner. Annabeth looked at me confusedly.

"Shit, I forgot to count Annu, she's new," she explained to Percy. "I guess you'll have to work with her while I do the rounds." Percy glared at Annabeth, who looked at me pointedly. He sighed and turned back around. I had just stood there the whole time, watching. I raised one eyebrow; I had the feeling that they had arguments like this all the time. Percy watched Annabeth walk away, and then turned to me.

"Okay, Annu," he said. "Let's see whatcha got. Defense." I was on defense, _Okay, I just can't let him get past my defense, and I have to watch his muscles for signs of swinging._ I nodded. Percy counted off, and we started. He lunged, an easy lung, and I blocked. He kept on giving me easy lunges, until I got fed up. On his next swing, I blocked, and shoved with all my might. He fell over and landed on his butt. He scowled at me.

"What was that for?" he growled. I shrugged.

"I had to get _some_ exercise," I said.

"Fine, no more going easy then," he answered with a smirk. I grinned.

"Good." He lunged again, but with more force. I blocked him. I watched his stomach and shoulder muscles for tensing and relaxing as he swung, and brought my blades up to match. He hacked at my head, and I caught his blade on my crossed daggers. He was trying to force me to the ground, but I shoved him to the side, and rolled. We continued like that for about ten minutes, then Percy said "Attack!" and I was on the offense. I struck two-handed, and tried to find openings, but Percy blocked my every move. I was starting to wonder if it would end when after fifteen minutes I saw an opening in his block. I slashed his blade, and deflected it at an angle. My arm slithered around the sword, and I brought my dagger up to his neck.

"Yield," I ordered, and he held his hands out to the sides.

"I yield," he conceded. I nodded, and let down my daggers. I glanced around for the first time, and saw people staring. Even Annabeth was standing there slack-jawed. I blushed, and looked at the ground.

"Hey," I looked up at Percy, "great job. I haven't been beaten in a long time. You're really good. " He held his hand out.

"Thanks, but I can tell that you weren't trying as hard as you could have," I said, grinning, and shook his hand.

"Well, next time I won't make that mistake." He winked. I walked out the arena to go change for Practical, when Annabeth stopped me.

"Hey, all we 'top notch' dagger-fighters have nicknames. You now need one. I dub thee Dragon, for your swiftness, agility, and power." I was a bit startled but I liked my new nickname, it made me feel more accepted, and less like the new kid. I grinned, said bye to Annabeth, and walked off to Practical, which I wasn't really good at, but I enjoyed.

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It turned out that I was right about Percy, he's a cool guy, and I might have liked him, but he's not really my type, he's too…_good_ for me. Not to mention that he and Annabeth were couple of the century, according to the Aphrodite Cabin. Lucky for her she's so confident, or she would get a major inferiority complex from the hordes of girls who liked Percy. I just thought it was cool that someone who's as great at sword-fighting as he is isn't conceited.

Anyways, I headed back to the Hermes cabin to get changed for dinner and I wore my favorite skinny jeans with a yellow tank and a white jacket, along with my trusty pair of black boots. I walked over to the Mess hall, and after sacrificing to the gods I walked over to the Hermes table and sat next to Mare. She was staring off into space, and I let her alone to eat. I looked up at the head table and saw Chiron beckon me over. I got up and went to talk to him. He looked at me silently. I waited for him to speak.

"Annu, Nico is about to wake, would you like to go see him?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." I said, and exited the Mess hall. I walked to the Big House wondering why Chiron was silent for so long before saying anything. _I wonder if something's troubling him._ I then arrived at the infirmary. Nico was on the farthest bed from the door. He was asleep and his shaggy black hair was all over the place. I smiled and sat on the bed. There was no one else in the infirmary, so I sat there and hummed. He looked a lot less intimidating asleep, and I even felt comfortable enough to brush his hair out of his face. After about three songs, Nico woke up.

"Hey sleepyhead," I said. "Welcome back to the world of the living." He grinned weakly.

"Hey… so how long was I out?" I contemplated.

"About a week…" Nico looked shocked.

"A week! Shit!" I giggled.

"Hey, it's okay," he sighed. "So how do you feel?"

"Okay," he said. "But I feel bad that I wasn't the one to show you around."

"Aww, it's alright, Nico. I met Connor, the Hermes counselor, and he was really nice and showed me around." Nico didn't look very pleased, but I let it go. "Let's go to dinner." We walked over to the big dining hall and Nico left to go sit at a different table, I thought the whole separation of tables by your godly parent's thing was stupid, but it was an unspoken rule of some sort. I sat back down and dug into my burger. After dinner Chiron stood to announce something.

"Everyone, a week from this Friday we will be having an Independence Day Dance," he declared. Everyone looked stunned. "It is formal, and in the week before we will be having competitions, tournaments, and a Talent show." Everyone grinned, me included. "That is all. Goodnight." He and Mr. D got up and left, which was our cue to leave as well. I got up with Mare, and we walked back to the cabin. We were discussing the announcement, but the whole time I could feel Connor's eyes on me, and it made me uncomfortable. When we got to the cabin, we separated from the guys, and I felt more at ease. I changed into my shorts and tank, and went to bed considering entering the Talent show.

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**A/N: Hey all, again, I think I need total 21 reviews before the next chapter is posted.  
And here's a quote: Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.  
BE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE AND LEAVE REVIEWS SO YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS STORY!  
I know you know where that button is!  
**


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